RUTA DE MINIMO COSTO PARA UNA EMPRESA EXPORTADORA DE

CARBN EN COLOMBIA

Universidad Pedaggica y Tecnolgica de Colombia

Facultad de Ingeniera
Redes de transporte

Herber Yesid Cruz Bastidas cdigo: 201410487

herber.cruz@uptc.edu.co
Cristian Fabin Prez Murcia cdigo: 201420175
cristian.perez02@uptc.edu.co
Paula Camila Prez Zorro cdigo: 201420267
paula.perez01@uptc.edu.co
Yeimi Paola Vargas Guasco cdigo: 201321725
yeimi.vargas@uptc.edu.co

RESUMEN

Se disea un sistema de distribucin de carga, de una empresa que exporta

carbn desde Colombia, con el fin de hallar rutas de mnimo costo desde los
centros de produccin de Boyac y Cesar hasta los puertos de Barranquilla y
Santa Marta, adems se tiene en cuenta el transporte de la carga a los a los
puertos de msterdam y Filadelfia. La metodologa desarrollada se centra en
encontrar una solucin a un problema de flujo de mnimo costo que considera la
capacidad de los centros de produccin, la capacidad de almacenamiento de cada
puerto ferroviario y fluvial, costos de arcos carreteros, fluviales, ferroviarios, costos
de explotacin de los centros de produccin, costos de exportacin y costo de
transbordo. Por ltimo, con ayuda de la herramienta TransCad, confirmar la
productividad de la red.

Palabras clave: Red de transporte, modelo de optimizacin, transporte, ruta de

mnimo costo, productividad de la red, multimodal.

MINIMUN COST ROUTE FOR A COAL EXPORTING COMPANY IN COLOMBIA

ABSTRACT

A cargo distribution system is designed, for a company that exports coal from
Colombia, in order to find minimum cost routes from the Boyac and Cesar
production centers to the ports of Barranquilla and Santa Marta, in addition, the
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transport of cargo to the ports of Amsterdam and Philadelphia. The methodology
developed focuses on finding a solution to the problem of minimum cost flow,
which considers the capacity of production centers; the storage capacity of each
rail and river port; the costs of road, river, railway arcs; operating costs of
production centers; export costs and transshipment costs. Finally, with the help of
the Trans Cad tool, confirm the productivity of the network.

KEY WORDS: Transportation network, optimization mode, transport, least cost

route, network productivity multimodal.

1. INTRODUCTION are in the process of assembly or

When speaking about Colombia, it is
always necessary to highlight its
richness, in terms of fauna, flora,
mineralogy and many other aspects.
Of course, the coal industry can not
be left behind because it has been a
source of employment, development
and opportunities for years, allowing
the progress of many generations of
Colombians who, through the coal
industry, have acquired education,
housing and better life quality. In
general, coal is part of the
development of the country.
Colombia is the main coal producer in
Latin America, ranking eleventh in the
world, and the fourth largest exporter.
It is the third ore with the highest
operating activity in the country,
followed by gold and silver. According
to the National Mining Agency (ANM),
it has 1'057,133,690 hectares used
for extraction throughout the country,
with a total amount of 1,534 titles, of
which 552 are exploited and the rest
exploration.
In 2016, 90 million tons of coal were
produced (historical figure),
production increased by 3% in 2015,
these figures are optimistic, and show
the reactivation of the mining sector,
specifically the coal industry [1].
In 2016, coal contributed $ 1.35 billion
in royalties, representing 80.2% of
total mining revenues. Each ton of
coal contributed about $ 105,000
pesos to the national GDP [2]. Among
the most representative mining
centers for national production is that
of Cesar with 59%, and the Guajira
with 37%, the remaining 4% comes
from the central area of the country as
Boyac and Cundinamarca. It is clear,
then, that the country's coal
production capacity is sufficient to
supply it self and even other foreign
countries that do not have this mineral
[3]
The biggest challenge for the coal
industry in Colombia is to transport
the large tons of coal that are

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produced in the center of the country,
as for the moment by aspects such as
the infrastructure in road roads,
fluvial, rails and operational logistics,
this mineral cannot be exploited to a
greater extent. These are one of the
reasons why, the cost of coal in the
center of the country is greater than
that of the Atlantic coast.
Therefore, creating alliances between
important national operations centers
is a great help to meet the demand
challenges in terms of cargo planning,
transport and the costs of such
operations. It is necessary to find a
viable strategy that minimizes the
costs of cargo transportation as much
as possible, and ensures that the
quantity demanded is the same in the
capacity to offer. To achieve this
objective, it is necessary to use
optimization methods by estimating
significant decision variables, with
strong information from the collection
centers, their production capacity,
storage capacity, possible transfer
centers, loading mode.
According to the above, the following
article will develop a model that will
optimize transport costs and load
transfer, based on a multimodal
transportation network, on a particular
problem of a coal company in
Colombia that exports coal to
international ports.
2. METHODOLOGY
In order to implement an optimal route
that reduces the operational costs of
transporting coal to be exported, an
optimization model is performed,
which provides consistent results of a
transportation network that goes from
two major coal production centers in
Colombia ( Boyac-Cesar) to two of
the country's main seaports
(Barranquilla-Santa Marta), bound for
Amsterdam and Philadelphia.
Taking into account the exploitation
capacity of each reservoir and the
storage capacity of each transfer
center, the routes and modes used for
this purpose are identified, evaluating
which of the results is the best in
terms of cost. To begin, it is
necessary to recognize each activity
center, within the system and identify
its role, and what specifically
contributes to the network studied.
For example, if it is a production
center, it is important to know the tons
of coal it has available to offer, and to
establish what capacity of reception
(demand) has each port, in order to
prevent inconveniences of imbalance
in the market.
In case of not having the previous
information of each node, it is strictly
necessary to carry out a market
evaluation between supply and
demand, to establish the existing
relationship in both scenarios and to
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know exactly the quantity produced month, which refers to the large
and required in each case. amount of reception they have.

For the case study, there are two
nodes of origin that depart from the
departments of Boyac or Cesar, and
two ports of destination are
Barranquilla and Santa Marta, and
then exported to Amsterdam and
Philadelphia. Table 1 illustrates the
capacity of supply and demand of
each one of them.
The following table characterizes the
arcs used in the modeled transport
structure, adding specific attributes
such as the serial, the production
schedule, the mode of transport used,
among others.
Table 2.Transportation network of
coal.

COAL TRANSPORT NETWORK

Table 1.Characteristics of each node.
Transport mode arcs
ATTRACTION/ Railway 2
CAPACITY Truck 4
NODE PRODUCTION
(TON/MONTH) River 2
/ STORAGE
Transhipment truck to rail 4
100000
PRODUCTION Transhipment truck to river 2
BOYACA 800000
Transhipment to reach ports 2
STORAGE 20000
Arc of daytime production 2
220000
PRODUCTION Arc of night production 2
CESAR 1800000
Storage arches 2
STORAGE 70000
Export arcs from Ports 4
SANTA MARTA ATTRACTION 1000000 Total of arcs 26
B/QUILLA ATTRACTION 1000000
MSTERDAM ATTRACTION 250000 After this, it is pertinent to identify
PHILADELPHIA ATTRACTION 420000 each route of transport of the load
carried out on the infrastructure
It is essential to establish that the
network of the country, to establish
information of the production nodes in
the centers of loading and unloading
the optimization model must be
of the product; studying in detail each
evaluated, depending on the
possibility of transhipment occurred
operating schedule (day or night),
between the links, without forgetting
because the costs, depending on the
the costs that each operation entails.
case, have different values. As the
Not least, it is the way in which the
capacity of the seaports is unlimited,
cargo is transported, therefore it is
to estimate the demand of the
also necessary to take into account its
seaports, an arbitrary capacity value
cost.
was estimated as 1000000 Ton /

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The transport modes used for each
node are shown below.

Fig 2. Direct Route since

Boyac/Cesar to Barranquilla/ Santa
Marta in truck

Fig 1. Modes of transport in the

network.

The following illustrations are taken

from Google earth and show the
possible routes to take the cargo from
Fig 3. Route since Boyac with
the Department of Boyac to the ports transfer fluvial.
of destination, Barranquilla and Santa
Marta.

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 Fig.4 Rout since Boyac, with
transfer ferrous.
It also represents the routes that are
carried out to transport the cargo
coming from the department of Cesar,
to the seaports.
Fig.5 Rout since Cesar, with transfer
ferrous.
Fig 7. Route since Cesar with transfer
fluvial
In the images it is possible to
observe, which are the routes that are
taken and the mode with which they
are crossed, likewise, each
transshipment carried out to change
the load of mode, generates an
additional node of transfer, called
transfer node.
Based on the information previously
analyzed in google earth, a graph is
presented that structures the arcs and
nodes and clearly identifies the mode
of transport used for each with its
respective cost. Subsequently, in
order to facilitate the analysis and
obtain the minimum cost of the flow
path, the node-arc incidence matrix is
presented in Excel where an objective
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function is formulated with minimum
height constraints and flow
conservation.
In order to verify the result obtained in
Excel, the graph was also developed
in Matlab 6.1. In this program the data
are entered in the form of vectors,
and the node-arc incidence matrix,
some of the vectors that are
introduced are the cost and capacity
vector.
When everything is ready for
development, the lingprog function
was used, this function solves
problems of linear programming,
which consists in optimizing a linear
equation subject to a series of
constraints conformed by linear
inequalities, and from this function we
obtain the value of the route of
minimum cost flow and is compared
to that obtained in Excel.
of the route. The illustration __ shows
the results obtained by the program.
3. FORMULATION OF THE
PROBLEM
Understanding the whole system as a
set of nodes and arcs that work in
common, and share a transport
infrastructure with limited capacity. An
optimization problem was formulated
that takes into account the most
important attributes of the nodes and
arcs that comprise it, in order to
maximize the capacity of the network
and reduce its costs.
OBJECTIVE FUNCTION
(1)
MINIMUM QUOTATION
RESTRICTION

( ) (2)
In Transcad we draw the graph taking
into account the nodes, arcs and (3)
flows raised in Excel, then we
introduce the costs of each arc, the
costs of nodes of producers and
attractors. It is checked that the nodes RESTRICTION ON FLOW
carry the same order as the one that CONSERVATION
had been raised in the graph. In the = 0 (4)
end a logical network is created (it
depends on capacity capacity, Where:
producing nodes and attractors), we
$
run the program that gives us the = ( )

minimum cost flow path and the cost
=

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 = ,
= ,
4. RESULTS
When the optimization was applied to
the minimum cost flow problem, for
the coal deposits in Boyac and
Cesr to the demand ports in
Amsterdam and Philadelphia, it was
obtained that the minimum route has
a total cost of network is US$
27,545,000 dollars, taking into
account the use of several modes of
transport such as rail-road-fluvial.
In solving the optimization problem,
there was a penalty for non-
compliance with the terms of the
contract, at a cost of US $ 65 / ton,
which would not be exported to
Philadelphia, and US $ 75 / ton for
Amsterdam, which was not applied
because the quantity demanded for
these ports, was satisfied.
The use of different software such as
Matlab, Transcad and Excel allows
making a comparison of results of the
minimum route, in which it is possible
to do an analysis for each arc and
node that constitute the network,
which are disclosed in the following
tables, and shown below.
Fig 8. Optimal route modeled in
TransCAD.
Taking into account the figure N4, it is
possible to observe the solution to the
initially proposed problem, which
seeks to find the optimal route, where
the costs involved and the capacity of
each starting node will be taken into
account. Highlighting the most
feasible route with a thicker contour,
and analyzing that the port to which
the most coal is carried to load is the
one in Santa Marta, because in this
route the costs will be less expensive
than those to transport through
Barranquilla.
Having the minimum cost flow, that
the program Transcad gives to know,
to allow its identification, it will be
shown below how it would be
arranged in a case presented in the
following Colombias map. Which was
developed with the use of Google
maps, giving an approximation of the
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place where each district and port that Philadelphia and Amsterdam, and
are part of the solution of the problem nodes 1, 3, 5 and 6 are the supply
will be found. nodes and storage respectively.

Fig 10. Costs of the network.

Figure 11 and 12 and 13, shows the

result thrown in all three programs
worked(excel, TransCAD, Matlab
6.1), and confirms the value of the
path of least cost.

Fig 9. Map of optimal routes.

Figure 9 shows the optimal routes

dropped by the program, and the
most appropriate modes and transfers
to optimize costs. For example, direct
routes in truck, leading to Fig 11. Optimal solution of excel.
Barranquilla, from the two sources are
not feasible economically, nor use the
fluvial transport to reach the port of
Barranquilla from Boyac.

The mode that had more participation

was the Road mode with a
participation of 46%, followed by the Fig 12. Optimal solution of Matlab 6.1
railway mode with 30%, and finally
the fluvial mode with 24%.

The figure below shows the minimum

costs reported by the Transcad
program, in which it can observe the
nodes 16 and 17, which are Fig 13. TransCAD

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5. CONCLUSIONS
For the optimal solution to a problem
of flow of minimum cost, three modes
of transport are considered, which are
rail, road and fluvial. With a respective
participation in each case of: 30% rail,
46% truck and 24% of fluvial mode.
These will carry a total of 670000 tons
in the month of study, and that will
have a cost of 27545000 dollars.
The mode of transport that gained the
most participation was the load that
was taken through the truck, for which
it is vital to have the best road
infrastructure. This so that the cargo
can be transported with greater
efficiency, with better conditions of
comfort and security for both the
plaintiffs and the bidders of said
merchandise.
The conditions of demand and supply
fulfilled the conditions of equilibrium.
Therefore, it was not necessary to
apply any kind of penalty to the
exporting companies, since the export
quantities were optimal.
The optimal route of loading of goods
of minimum cost employs the three
modes of transport; this result
indicates that to the extent that the
system is multimodal, the costs will be
optimized.
Observing the route in the programs
used for the development of the
project, it can be observed that
towards the port of Barranquilla, the
amount of coal that arrives is very
small compared to Santa Marta,
which has a large influx of
merchandise transported. Which
indicates that it is more profitable to
transfer most of the merchandise to
the maritime port of Santa Marta, from
where it is going to be distributed to
Amsterdam and Philadelphia.
In order to address this problem, the
distance between districts and ports
could also be taken into account. As
this can significantly influence costs,
because they can have higher costs,
and it would be inherent to give
meaning to the travel time taken by
each route. This is because in many
cases, it is a factor with which to
make the greatest decision-making.
REFERENCES
[1]Colombia. Unidad de Planeacin
Minero Energetica, UPME.
Indicadores de la mineria en
Colombia. Bogota: Ministerio de
Minas y Energia, 2014.127p.
[2]Colombia. Agencia Nacional de
Mineria. Caracterizacin de la
actividad minera departamental de
Cesar. 2017. 2p.
[3]Colombia. Agencia Nacional de
Mineria. Caracterizacin de la
actividad minera departamental de
Boyaca. 2017. 2p.
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